Saturday, September 27, 2003
100 Best Companies for Work-Life Balance Issues
Working Mother Magazine has released its report on the 100 best companies to work for if you are a working mother. Many people do not appreciate that Working Mother is the second largest BUSINESS magazine in the U.S.
The list is issued in advance of a national conference next week on work-life balance that is hosted by the magazine.
Read the press release about the best companies.
WorkingMother
Working Mother Magazine has released its report on the 100 best companies to work for if you are a working mother. Many people do not appreciate that Working Mother is the second largest BUSINESS magazine in the U.S.
The list is issued in advance of a national conference next week on work-life balance that is hosted by the magazine.
Read the press release about the best companies.
WorkingMother
Implementing the policy after the big hoopla over it
Three experts comment on how to cope when a work-life balance policy is being blocked by some members of management...
The Guardian | If I were boss
Three experts comment on how to cope when a work-life balance policy is being blocked by some members of management...
The Guardian | If I were boss
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
If you are in the neighborhood, you should consider going to camp in May with the Women in Technology. Imagine, they have a conferece with sessions on four tracks:
1 professionals,
2 entrepreneurs,
3 wellness,
4 creativity
Having "creativity" as a topic is very wise. Working with clients in recent years, I have been asked many times to help clients "get in touch with my creativity". That is one reason I decided there is a need for a professional muse for professionals!
Stress saps your creativity. Lack of time for reflection and introspection -- and simple lack of time -- cuts the ground out from under the creative process. And the lawyerly focus on left-brain activities blocks the connections with right brain creativity.
Outsiders might think lawyers have no need for creativity, but they are wrong. Brilliant ideas come from the creative function. Novel defences, uniquely-structured transactions, new ways of doing old things in law... these require creative thinking....
1 professionals,
2 entrepreneurs,
3 wellness,
4 creativity
Having "creativity" as a topic is very wise. Working with clients in recent years, I have been asked many times to help clients "get in touch with my creativity". That is one reason I decided there is a need for a professional muse for professionals!
Stress saps your creativity. Lack of time for reflection and introspection -- and simple lack of time -- cuts the ground out from under the creative process. And the lawyerly focus on left-brain activities blocks the connections with right brain creativity.
Outsiders might think lawyers have no need for creativity, but they are wrong. Brilliant ideas come from the creative function. Novel defences, uniquely-structured transactions, new ways of doing old things in law... these require creative thinking....
"WorldWIT to Hold May 2004 Conference on How Professional Women Can Succeed in Both Work and Life
(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 2003--
Groundbreaking event will focus on professional and entrepreneurial development, creativity and wellness
"Imagine a conference that offers topics on everything from business plans to balancing work and family, from corporate culture to creative writing. Add a dash of venture capital funding, product branding, marketing strategies, personal growth and Tai Chi. Hold it not in an antiseptic hotel auditorium, but rather in a relaxed, scenic country setting where attendees can shuck business suits for shorts and t-shirts..."
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
If Miss America is in the competition, can you win the beauty contest?
Over the weekend, Ericka Dunlap was crowned the new Miss America. Dunlop aspires to go to law school and become a lawyer specializing in sports and entertainment. So it must be that the image of lawyers still has some sheen. The profession still attracts, and it attracts beauty queens.
From another perspective, this means that women lawyers will now have to compete with a Miss America for clients or jobs. "Requests for Proposals" have long been called "beauty contests" and now that has a new meaning.
And some men and women lawyers will suffer from the comparison to the beautiful and well-groomed – not because they are homely but because they do not present a professional image.
This happens to be one of my pet peeves: I would not hire a lawyer who cannot organize his or her own life well enough to maintain their grooming. Where do these lawyers go wrong and what has this to do with quality of life issues? Bear with me.
People expect that women who are competent lawyers and well-functioning human beings have achieved sufficient work/life balance that they can, on a daily basis, reproduce a professional appearance.
But doing so requires both self-management and time management. If your excuse is that you cannot manage a professional image because you don’t care about superficialities, hire an image consultant or someone else who does care.
When it comes to not coping, too many professionals let their look go first. In an era when even satisfied clients are willing to change lawyers, why would you make it more difficult for clients to be loyal to you? Yes, they will try another lawyer who looks like she can organize her life better and practice law competently without falling apart personally.
Here are a few lawyer images that I have seen in just the past week:
· A woman lawyer with a good haircut who never combs it after that first time out of the shower in the morning. So at an afternoon appointment she looks bedraggled.
It is good advice to do the best that you can before you leave the house and then put your appearance out of your mind to concentrate on your work. But you can take that thought too far. It may still be necessary to put a comb through your hair when you return from a windy walk or go out to a meeting after work.
· A male lawyer with such long, bushy, dark eyebrows that he frightens small children.
Each time you get a haircut, ask the barber to trim your brows and you ear and nose hair.
· Dandruff on a gray suit.
Antidandruff shampoo or a tweed jacket. Many dermatologists suggest that all of us need to use antidandruff shampoo occasionally.
· Long, dry, wild, frizzy hair.
Conditioner! Are you blind? At least get a shorter haircut so there is less hair for you to swing in my face.
· Chipping red nail polish.
Use the remover, even if you don’t have time for a fresh manicure.
Whew! Enough said.
Over the weekend, Ericka Dunlap was crowned the new Miss America. Dunlop aspires to go to law school and become a lawyer specializing in sports and entertainment. So it must be that the image of lawyers still has some sheen. The profession still attracts, and it attracts beauty queens.
From another perspective, this means that women lawyers will now have to compete with a Miss America for clients or jobs. "Requests for Proposals" have long been called "beauty contests" and now that has a new meaning.
And some men and women lawyers will suffer from the comparison to the beautiful and well-groomed – not because they are homely but because they do not present a professional image.
This happens to be one of my pet peeves: I would not hire a lawyer who cannot organize his or her own life well enough to maintain their grooming. Where do these lawyers go wrong and what has this to do with quality of life issues? Bear with me.
People expect that women who are competent lawyers and well-functioning human beings have achieved sufficient work/life balance that they can, on a daily basis, reproduce a professional appearance.
But doing so requires both self-management and time management. If your excuse is that you cannot manage a professional image because you don’t care about superficialities, hire an image consultant or someone else who does care.
When it comes to not coping, too many professionals let their look go first. In an era when even satisfied clients are willing to change lawyers, why would you make it more difficult for clients to be loyal to you? Yes, they will try another lawyer who looks like she can organize her life better and practice law competently without falling apart personally.
Here are a few lawyer images that I have seen in just the past week:
· A woman lawyer with a good haircut who never combs it after that first time out of the shower in the morning. So at an afternoon appointment she looks bedraggled.
It is good advice to do the best that you can before you leave the house and then put your appearance out of your mind to concentrate on your work. But you can take that thought too far. It may still be necessary to put a comb through your hair when you return from a windy walk or go out to a meeting after work.
· A male lawyer with such long, bushy, dark eyebrows that he frightens small children.
Each time you get a haircut, ask the barber to trim your brows and you ear and nose hair.
· Dandruff on a gray suit.
Antidandruff shampoo or a tweed jacket. Many dermatologists suggest that all of us need to use antidandruff shampoo occasionally.
· Long, dry, wild, frizzy hair.
Conditioner! Are you blind? At least get a shorter haircut so there is less hair for you to swing in my face.
· Chipping red nail polish.
Use the remover, even if you don’t have time for a fresh manicure.
Whew! Enough said.
